I had a bit of a scare with Martha, as John Fowlie, Ray Ward and a couple of other folks know. I compared the VIN on the A pillar to the VIN on the title, and they didn't match! Same number of digits - the first two, middle two and last two match, but another digit was transposed, and one differed. Oh no! I went back to the seller, but he's gone incommunicado... John mentioned that Ray knew of a way to get a "lost" title through the state of Vermont, and Ray provided a couple of YouTube links. I was prepared to go that route, and then I had an e-conversation with Christopher Housecat Neapolitan, who once owned a '53 Plymouth.

He told me that Chrysler titled cars from the factory with the block number!!

VIN on A pillarblock number

So Martha's street legal. Now, to figure out which number PA wants to use. As Chris pointed out, people swap blocks all the time - I'm lucky that Martha has the original block.

And speaking of which, she's firing up now. Drexel Auto told me there's sludge in the tank, so I have to drop it and get it reconditioned. They blew out the line and cleaned the filter, and the pump is fine - but the carburetor accelerator pump is shot, so I've ordered them a rebuild kit. But she's running! She rolls now, too - the emergency brake was locked. They've got a new band, and a cable is on its way to replace the kinked one. And don't you know, after a nearly three week vacation to California and back, the rest of my brake parts are scheduled to come home today. The drums on the car seem to be OK. With any luck, Martha will be parked in my driveway by the end of next week!

Oh - and that star symbol between the P25 (the model number for '54 Plymouths) and the remaining digits? According to Jim Benjaminson from the Plymouth Owner's club, that means it's a 230 and not a 218. Raw Plymouth power, doncha know!

P.S. - there's an overstamp on the block in a smaller font, "FA28566". Jim didn't know what it was, he speculated that it might be a state number of some sort. Anyone have any ideas?

Oh - and that star symbol between the P25 (the model number for '54 Plymouths) and the remaining digits? According to Jim Benjaminson from the Plymouth Owner's club, that means it's a 230 and not a 218.

...er, not quite right. This is the symbol that means it's a 230:

So, Martha's not the powerhouse I thought she was. I guess the top speed is 70, instead of 75

That is a relief! Nothing is more stressful than having a car and having difficulty with the DMV about transferring a title. Glad it worked out. Interesting that they used the engine SN for the title from the factory. I can see where that would cause serious issues after an engine swap or two. Happy motoring

I scored this hood ornament from a guy on the Plymouth Owners Club who had it in a box of Dodge parts, and didn't know what it was for... Fifty bucks, it's near perfect.

There's another guy who put disc brakes on the front of his Suburban, and is parting with his front drums - these are like hen's teeth (the rears are plentiful), I'm picking them up for a song.

Meanwhile, Martha sits at Drexel Automotive under cover, awaiting her turn for a brake job. It's not like I can do anything when the brakes are done - it's just too damn cold, so I guess I don't mind waiting. My first job will be to drop the gas tank, clean it out and use the Eastwood reconditioning kit I bought for it. No fun, though, in winter weather.

That was my first stop, Dick - I went to the guy who pressure tested Faulkner's heater cores. He doesn't do them... There is this company in Ambler that does them, but they want $300, and it takes a couple weeks. I redid Savannah's (my '55 Plymouth, now long gone) tank with this kit and had good success with it - it took a couple of hours, probably the time it would take me to twice drive to Ambler and back.

Ah, those optional directional turn signals. And arm rests! Everything a handyman could want, in a two door suburban. And Berkeley green! But I already knew that.

I was able to find this out about Warner Motors in Napa, California where Martha left the showroom, from this website:

Jim Ford wrote:The Ford dealership was owned by John Hill and it was located on the corner of Brown and Clay streets. Then, right next to the Ford dealership on Clay Street was Warner Motors, a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership owned by George Warner. It was on the corner of Clay and Coombs.

Both of those buildings, along with a lot of others in the downtown area, were razed during downtown redevelopment in the 1970s. A portion of the now-closed Mervyns department store now occupies both of those sites.

That now-closed Mervyns is now a Kohls. So, here is where Martha once graced a showroom:

Not all that far from where Mike Williams found her and bought her in 1977, and put her under cover 20 years later. Hardly a barn find, but still, it makes for an interesting story!